Happy Holidays
by AlphaWriter1
Summary: Puck is sick and tired of everybody forgetting the fact that he and Rachel are Jewish. So, while Finn's struggling to find Rachel a cheap gift for Christmas, Puck's treating her to eight days of presents, all from her list. Because Puck wants her back, and he knows as well as anybody does that Finn just doesn't deserve her. Because he'll never understand what it means to be a Jew.
1. Chapter 1

**Happy Holidays  
A Glee Holiday Fan Fiction  
A Puckleberry Story  
Part 1: Christmas  
****_A/N: While I'm impressed that they've finally decided to acknowledge Puck's Jewish heritage on the show, I feel like they've forgotten the fact that Rachel is also Jewish ("It's my favorite holiday song"-proceeds to sing 'O Holy Night'). So, in the christmas spirit, I will be writing an eight-chapter story about our favorite couple during Christmas time. It's going to take place during their senior year. Depending on the reaction I get from this, I might do a sequel and prequel, about their Hanukkah celebration during Junior year and their year after graduation. Enjoy!_**

"Rach, I love you, you know that, but I thought that we agreed that the 'things we did wrong this week' list was hurting us rather than helping us. Especially since it was mostly about all the things _I _did wrong," Finn Hudson sighed, running a hand through his dark brown hair as he furrowed his thick eyebrows together and frowned down at his going-on-two-year-long, on-again-off-again girlfriend, Rachel Berry who was a full foot shorter than he was.

"No, no, no!" Rachel Berry insisted with that bright smile that always managed to make his heart melt. "This is a different list, and this one really _will _help!" She beamed, and he really expected her to start clapping her hands. "You see, I heard that you were struggling to figure out what to get me for Christmas, so I wrote you up this list to help you with that little problem," She beamed at him, making her smile get even brighter-if that was even possible, because it was already close to blinding him.

Finn sighed as he took the list from her and skimmed it over. It was filled with jewelry-expensive jewelry with diamonds and gold and silver. Nothing on that list was going to be cheap, not in the slightest way possible. But she was _still _giving him that bright smile that out shine a freaking spot light, and her eyes were all bright and shiny. He could never say no to those eyes. It made him feel like a dick every time he even _thought _about saying no to her.

"And, of course, you can feel free to write me a list as well," Rachel said happily, ignoring the confusion and discomfort his face was displaying as she went on. That was the wonderful thing about Rachel. She could just keep talking and talking, ignoring the fact that the other person wasn't responding to her words. It always gave Finn, who was typically slow on the update, time to carefully think through what his response was going to be to her constant ramblings, filled with large words he didn't know.

"Wait a second-who told you that I didn't know what to get you?" He frowned. He had only mentioned that to two people-his step brother, Kurt Hummel, who had quickly said he'd get straight on helping him figure that out, and his best friend, Noah Puckerman, who had rolled his eyes and started a long speech about how Rachel didn't just deserve _one _present for _Christmas _because she was _Jewish _and they received _eight days of presents. _Like Finn could afford that? "Was it Kurt?" He wondered.

"What? No! Of course it wasn't-"

"Yes," Kurt replied swiftly as he walked by with Blaine Anderson at his side, the two gibbering on about something.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter. Besides, all I want for Christmas is you," Finn smiled down at her.

"Aw!" Rachel smiled, and Finn beamed down at her proudly.

It was an awfully rare occasion where he struck Rachel as speech-

"All I want for Christmas is you, too!" She informed him brightly.

He continued to smile, mentally patting himself on the back for getting himself out of the disaster that would be-

"And five things from that list," She stood up on tip toes, planting a light kiss on his cheek before leaving him there, dumb struck.

"Holy shit," Finn shook his head in amazement. "I'm dating Kim Kardashian!" He sighed.

"Rachel's a lot less curvy that that bitch, bro," Noah Puckerman appeared from behind him.

"Look at the list she just gave me!" Finn sighed, turning around and thrusting the paper into his hands.

"So? She's high maintenance. What's the big deal? She's a Jewish American princess, remember?" Puck wondered.

"What the hell does that even mean?" Finn wondered, taking the list back.

"Her dads spoil her rotten year round. Whatever she wants, they go out and buy her." Puck explained.

"Then why is her list so-"

"She's used to the men in her life spoiling her." Puck rolled his eyes, leaving Finn alone once again.

* * *

It was probably wrong of Puck to use Finn's torment and pain to his advantage, but he was going to do it anyways. And he was going to have a field day doing it. Because every other time he had done something to help him at Finn's expense? He'd ended up enjoying it, and they had all resulted in a Rachel Berry make-out session.

And damn, could that girl _kiss? _Puck had made out with a lot of girls in his time. He'd _done _a lot with a lot of girls in his time. But after his make-out session with Rachel Berry back in sophomore year? Nothing had been able to compare. She was incredible. The things she could do never ceased to amaze him. And he'd been with Santana Lopez.

So, who could blame him for using Finn's stubbornness and refusal to buy Rachel an incredible and amazing gift for Christmas-along side refusing to submit to the fact that Rachel celebrated Hanukkah because she was Jewish-to his own advantage? Yeah, he didn't think anybody could argue with that logic.

Especially when everybody and their cousin knew that he was madly in love with Rachel Berry. He would lie and give Lauren Zizes her pride, allowing everybody to think the sex stud he was had gotten dumped by the wrestling girl at school, but in all reality, they both knew that he'd broken up with Lauren for Rachel. And she hadn't taken it well.

But, Puck would do anything in his power to break up Finn and Rachel, as long as he didn't go and get the girl pregnant. He wouldn't be the other guy, the way he was back in sophomore year with Quinn. But he would play his cards right and make sure Rachel knew that he was better for her than Finn. So that she would eventually dump his sorry ass for the Puckster himself.

Which was why Puck had gone to a god forsaken jewelry store the night before and spent a large portion of his college fund-it was still a pretty hefty account, of course, from all the money he'd earned and saved up-on eight presents from Rachel, all from her list that he'd memorized in the short amount of time he'd seen it.

Day one: he would be leaving her a beautifully wrapped pair of diamond earrings that he'd known she'd wanted since before seeing the list. He was actually glad he knew her locker combination, because taping it to her locker would result in somebody stealing the present. And he wasn't going to have that happen. Besides, he wanted to see the surprise on her face.

So, the Monday after she presented Finn with the list, he called her up around seven in the morning, a good five minutes before she usually left for school, and told her to put her keys down because he was picking her up so they could spend some Jewish bonding time together. After all, they hadn't talked in a while and he missed her.

When they got to the school, he walked inside with her, all the way to her locker. He leaned against the locker besides her own, listening to her babble on about some topic he'd gotten her stuck on, and smirked when she finally shut up upon opening her locker and spotting the silver and black box-black wrapping paper, silver bow-sitting on the top shelf of her locker.

"I can't believe Finn would take the time to be so creative and secretive! It's so romantic and utterly incredible that he would even get this idea. A secret Santan idea-although, I am Jewish-is highly too sophisticated for him. I must admit that I'm impressed," She smiled as she removed the box from the shelf.

Puck's smile deflated as she gave all the credit to Finn Freaking Hudson, who wouldn't have even wrapped the god damn earrings, thinking the silly little box they were wrapped in was more than enough to shield a surprise for her. He rolled his eyes as she opened the velvet box and gasped at the sight of the earrings.

"Oh...there's a card," She whispered, setting the box back into her locker as she studied the paper. "This isn't Finn's writing..."She frowned before she read the card a loud. "'_Eight days of presents for a little Jewish American princess, from your Hanukkah Armadillo,'" _She frowned, even though it should have been obvious who the gift was from.

Only Puck ever called her anything even close to the title she'd been given in the note, and they'd constantly mocked that old _Friends _episode where Ross had dressed up as an armadillo to teach his kids about Hanukkah. The little references to their days as best friends should have been enough to give the secret away.

Then again...she'd probably been expecting a gift from her boyfriend. Actually, she'd made it clear that she was expecting a gift from her boyfriend that morning. The obvious slap in the face that came with knowing that the gift was not from Finn Hudson had probably thrown her off guard, causing her to have all her thoughts messed up, leaving her to wonder who had left the gift.

"Some nice rocks you got there, Berry," Puck observed, leaning around her locker door to study the gift. If she was going to ignore his obvious hints, whether she had a good reason or not, he was going to play right along. "Somebody must really like you, to give you those," He whistled, giving her a swift wink before walking away.

It was hard for him, playing the big spender and then having to act as if he hadn't done anything at all that could warrant as being a big deal. He lived for the recognition that came with giving gifts. It was the only reason he had for giving gifts, rather than just receiving the presents. He liked being thanked and having the receiver tell everybody how kind he had been.

But he couldn't do that while keeping the illusion of some mysterious gift giver alive for Rachel. If she thought this idea of a secret-goft-giver was romantic, then he was going to be romantic and keep that idea in her head for as long as he could, before he snapped and forced her to realize that the gifts were from him.

And with the amount of digits he'd had to write on that check the other day when he'd gone to the mall, he was fairly certain she would need to realize who the hell was giving her the gifts before the third day was over, or he would explode from the lack of recognition. He would even take that stupid kiss on the cheek Hyde had gotten in _That 70's Show _when he'd given Donna the sweetest gift.

* * *

"Mr. Shuester, I have a question," Rachel said, her hand snapping into the air like it always did when she was volunteering to sing or asking permission to disagree with one of Mr. Shuester's ideas.

"What is it, Rachel," Mr. Shuester sighed, running a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath with his eyes shut. Dealing with Rachel for almost three years was more than enough to drive a man to drink, despite her talent.

"Last year, you seemed to forget the fact that Noah and I are Jewish and do not celebrate Christmas or the birth of Jesus. So, I was merely wondering if we could perform a Hanukkah song or two in this television-"

"It's a _Christmas _special, Rachel," Artie Abrams sighed from the front row where he was forever destined to sit due to his wheel chair. "We can't sing _Hanukkah _songs during a _Christmas _special."

"Why the hell not? None of you guys ever remember the fact that Berry and I are freaking Jewish and go for the Old Testament. And then, once a year, we have to sing all these Christmas songs and you ignore our culture!" Puck spoke up.

"Noah's right. It is a little unfair that you ignore our beliefs every single day of the year, and we just go along with it. And then, during Christmas time, we're just expected to forget our own beliefs to sing songs about _your _beliefs," She sighed.

"Well, I suppose that _is _a little unfair of us. And it would be fair to allow a few Hanukkah songs to be performed this year. Do either of you know any to give us some sort of example that we could go on?" Mr. Shuester wondered.

After all, it was a very rare occasion to find Rachel Berry and Noah Puckerman on the same page. If the two polar opposites could agree on something, then there had to be something to it.

"Well, I suppose I have something in my repertoire," Rachel sighed, standing up and making her way towards the front of the room. "But, I'll be needing Noah's help," She said, flashing him that smile.

And, just as it always managed to get her whatever she wanted from Finn, it had the exact same effect on Puck. It was how she'd gotten his help for her terrible music video sophomore year and their duet the previous year.

"Yeah, yeah, sure alright. AS long as you're talking about the one that you forced me to sing at the JCC that year for the Holiday talent show," Puck sighed, making his way towards the front of the room, following behind her, as always.

"But of course! Do you honestly think I would ask you to perform a song that we've never rehearsed? This duet manages to win us first prize every single year, Noah. What else would I select?" She asked in utter shock.

"Well, I'm sorry I don't understand the way your mind works. Please excuse my thoughtlessness," Puck rolled his eyes. Rachel stuck her tongue out at him and shook her head as Puck got his guitar ready.

While the duo prepared for their duet, the Gleeks sat in their rows, trying to comprehend the complex relationship that they all had come to know, love-and bet on getting back together-as Puckleberry.

_"Light one candle for the Maccabee children/With thanks their light didn't die/Light one candle for the pain they endured/When their right to exist was denied," _Rachel's strong, powerful voice started out the song.

_"Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice/Justice and freedom demand/And light one candle for the wisdom to know/That the peacemaker's time is at hand," _Puck's smooth, tenor-bass voice took over.

_"Don't let the light go out/It's lasted for so many years/Don't let the light go out/Let it shine through our love and our tears," _Their voices blended together at the chorus, once more shocking the club members with their excellent blend of voices.

_"Light one candle for the strength that we need/To never become our own foe/Light one candle for those who are suffering/A pain they learned so long ago," _Rachel went on, singing her verse solo.

_"Light one candle for ll we believe in/That anger not tear us apart/And light one candle to bind us together/With peace as the song in our heart," _Puck started to sing, cutting Rachel off.

_"Don't let the light go out/It's lasted for so many years/DOn't let the light go out/Let it shine through our love and our years," _They sang together, a strong and powerful blend of voices, perfectly in tune with one another.

_"What is the memory that's valued so highly/That we keep it alive in that flame?" _Rachel belted out the next line of the song, turning to face Puck with a wide grin, meeting one of his own aimed at her.

_"What's the commitment to those who have died/We cry out they've died not in vain/We have come this fair, always believing/that justice will somehow prevail," _Puck sang.

_"This is the burden/This is the promise/This is why we will not fail/Don't let the light go out/It's lasted for so many years/Don't let the light go out/Let it shine through out love and our tears," _They harmonized together.

_"Don't let the light go out," _Rachel sang, followed by Puck repeating the verse. Rachel sang it once more, before Puck sang the line for a final time, ending the song with their eyes locked intently on one another.


	2. Chapter 2

**Happy Holidays  
A Glee Fan Fiction  
Chapter 2  
_A/n: I'm amazed at the reaction this story has gotten so far! I'm completely amazed. _  
**

Rachel Berry entered McKinley High School Tuesday morning with Noah Puckerman at her side. Once again, he'd shocked her with a phone call at exactly seven o'clock that morning, telling her to put her keys down, because he was going to be giving her a ride.

She approached her locker tentatively, listening to Noah talk on and on about Mario and the wonders that came with any video game that attached his name to the title-as if Rachel really understood any of what he was saying? She twisted the lock on her locker, clicking it open after the tiny little click that was made to tell her that she'd gotten it correct. She opened her locker slowly, frowning at the perfectly wrapped, long, skinny box sitting on the very top shelf of her locker.

This box had white wrapping paper with golden stars printed across it, a gold bow tied around it. The gift itself was just so her that she had no choice but to smile. She stood up on her tip toes and reached for the gift, pulling it towards her as gracefully as she could-there was a reason she never used that shelf on her locker, after all-and carefully started to untie the bow. When that was finished, she slid a finger under the wrapping paper, carefully removing the paper from the present. She stared at the tiny, black velvet box that was much thinner than her box the previous day, yet much longer as well.

"What's that?" Puck asked her, finally realizing how little attention she was paying to him and leaning against the locker besides her.

"I...I'm not quite sure-oh my god," She breathed out, removing the lid carefully from the top and staring down at the metal inside. A golden, woven bracelet with a single charm hanging from the many clasps on it. The only charm was a single, golden charm with tiny little diamond chips at each point, her name engraved on the metal.

"Who's this one from?" Puck asked her, raising his eyebrows as he studied her new gift with a smirk. That hadn't been on her lift to Finn, but it was the one thing that her fathers had never given her, despite her constant begging. A charm bracelet.

"It's a charm bracelet," She whispered.

"Wait a second...there's something else up there," Puck frowned, reaching towards the top shelf, all the way in the back, and removing a thin, white envelope from it. He moved back to a normal, upright position and handed the paper to her, the writing facing the ground, rather than her face so she couldn't read it.

"What else could..."Rachel trailed off as she reached into the envelope and pulled out three different charms. One was of a black and gold musical note, a beautiful, small little eighth note. The next one she selected from her envelope was a golden Star of David. The third charm was the letter R, standing as her initial. Her name. She smiled at the gifts, slowly attaching each individual charm to the bracelet with a smile almost glued to her face. Then she flipped the envelope over.

"'Hey, my sexy midget of a Jewish-American princess-how'd you like day two of your presents? This one might not have been on your list this year, but I know that it's something you've always wanted, even if your dads were always saying no. Just don't tell them I gave it to you-I like that they still like me.'" Rachel read, looking up at him with a confused expression removing the smile that she'd had as she'd opened the presents and put them all together. "I just don't...who could know that I never got the charm bracelet I always asked my dads for?" Rachel frowned, staring at it in disbelief.

"Well...who _could _know?" Puck wondered with a half grin on his face.

"I'm honestly...I mean, I'm fairy certain that I only ever mentioned it to you, because you were there when I was having a temper tantrum over the fact that my dads said no, once again, back when we were nine. Well, you were ten. I was nine," Rachel frowned.

"Give it a little bit more thought. Who do you think it could have been? Who knows you that well, and who would want to make your Hanukkah extra special? Who would take that much time and consideration to give you a present? And when you figure out, get back to me," he winked at her as he turned on his heel and started to walk away.

Rachel shook her head, a small smile returning to her face as she closed her locker, starting at her charm bracelet. She was fairly certain that Puck was the one leaving her all of these small tokens, but she couldn't be sure when he would have the time to do it. Since he brought her to and from school, he couldn't possibly leave her presents before she entered. The only way he could leave them the previous day, would be if he did it before he went to basketball practice.

Which, she personally didn't find all that unbelievable, if she was being honest. She rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest and turned on her heel, ready to head to her home room, stopped by a particular Kurt Hummel who was studying her with suspicion flooding his eyes and a very disapproving scowl stretched out across his mouth. She sighed, shaking her head as she slowly made her way towards him, knowing that nothing good was going to come of the conversation they were about to have. He was going to make accusation, which she would deny, and he wouldn't give up until he was proven as right.

* * *

"Who gave Rachel that god for shaken charm bracelet she keeps jingling in my face when we're talking?" Finn Hudson snarled at Noah Puckerman, his best-and only-friend as they walked from the gym towards the choir room after their last period gym class.

"How am I supposed to know who gave your girl some sort of present?" Puck wondered, raising his eyebrows, secretly wondering to himself just how much Finn actually knew about the presents Rachel had been receiving.

"Cut the crap, Puck. Kurt told me that you were at her locker when she opened the damn thing today, and I know you gave her a ride to school yesterday when she got the freaking earrings. So who left them for her?" Finn asked, slamming his fist into a passing locker.

"You really need to do something about all that pent up anger. It's going to end up getting you into a lot of trouble one day," Puck advised him with a teasing grin on his face, trying to distract Finn.

Unfortunately, being with Rachel caused him to lose all that stupid, gullibleness that he'd always had inside of him. He didn't fall for Puck's distractions anymore and refused to allow Puck to get him off topic.

"Don't you even dare. Tell me who the hell left my girlfriend those freaking presents!" Finn demanded. "I swear to god, Puck, if you know and don't tell me I'll-wait a second..."Finn stopped himself, trailing off on his rant.

Puck gulped, hating this new, smarter version of Finn. Finn was not supposed to be able to understand everything about Puck and read him like a book. That was Puck's job for Finn. Puck was meant to be a mystery.

"_You _gave her the presents. _You're _the one leaving her the gifts? Why the _hell _are _you _leaving _my _girl presents every morning?" Finn asked, stopping in the middle of the hallway, turning to glare at Puck.

And Puck mentally, silently prayed to whatever god there was to thank him for making Finn still hold onto a tiny little bit of that innocence that stopped him from realizing the reason behind Puck's presents to Rachel.

"I thought we had a deal. You said Rachel didn't mean anything to you, so why are you trying to interfere with our relationship? Remember the deal we made last year after you guys sang your little duet?" Finn snapped at him.

Of course Puck remembered that stupid deal. It was the dumbest deal he'd ever made in his life and had resulted in giving up his rights to the song he'd written and him planning an incredible date for FInn and Rachel to go on, which was completely movie worthy.

He'd freaking sang to them on their stupid date, selecting Rachel's favorite song from one of their favorite Disney movies. He'd done everything in his power to help Finn get her back, and Finn was acting as though Puck hadn't remembered the deal.

"You're in freaking love with her." Finn whispered, realization finally dawning on him. "You're in love with her, still...after all of this time, you're still in love with her," Finn whispered. A harsh glare covered his face as he watched his best friend, waiting for a reaction.

"Always," Puck whispered, shaking his head, a slight frown on his face as he spoke. And then he smirked, remembering yet another hint he could give Rachel so she could figure out who it was that was leaving the presents.

"She's never going to pick you. When are you going to give up and get that through your big head? She wants to be with me. She picked me and she's always going to pick me. She loves me," Finn said. But Puck had to wonder just who he was trying to convince.

"Are you trying to tell me that, or are you trying to make yourself believe that it's true?" Puck wondered, turning around to glare at him, an angry scowl sketched across his face. He was through letting Finn put him down and make him feel like shit.

There was something messed up with love, really, though, if Puck really took the time to think about it. Honestly, he'd rather fall off of a bridge. It would hurt a lot less, after all. Because his love for Rachel left him putting up with the bull shit Finn put him through.

"How the hell could you ever expect her to love you? With your do everything, regret nothing attitude? You don't care about who you hurt or what you do to people. She doesn't want to be with a guy like that. She wants to be taken care of!" Finn snapped.

And, at that exact moment, Puck snapped as well. He lunged towards Finn, bringing him to the ground in a swift tackle as he started making blow after blow towards his face, not caring how many punches actually made contact with his opponent's face. He just wanted to hit _something. _

"Never say that I don't care about her! Never say that I don't give two shits about her, because that's a god damn lie. I fucking love her, alright? And I'll love her forever, whether she loves me back or not!" Puck snapped, still punching Finn who was struggling to break free.

"Get the hell offa me!" Finn growled, using all of his strength to push Puck off of him. He climbed to his feet and looked down at Puck, who smirked in contempt at the black eye Finn was going to have and the swollen lip, with the blood dripping down his face from his nose and mouth. "You're a fucking Lima Loser," He shook his head as he walked away.

"I'm the Lima Loser? Where the hell are you heading after graduation when Rachel leaves for her big plans in New York?" Puck called after him slightly impressed by the way Finn flipped him off as he left the school, forgetting Glee rehearsal for the day, which was very unlike him.

* * *

Finn thought that he had it all. He really, honestly did. He had Rachel Berry who was his go-to partner for everything that life through at him. They belonged together.

When they danced together, Finn could actually somewhat follow the beat.

And boys looked at him with envious expressions when they walked around hand in hand, because Rachel was a prize.

And she _his. _

Still, Finn couldn't pretend he didn't know the truth anymore.

Whenever Rachel was performing with a spotlight shining down on her on a dark stage, she would make everybody flip over her talent.

And Finn sort of liked the way she managed to look sexy while being all sophisticated and mature.

And he especially liked how jealous Puck was of him for a change.

Because Puck was in love with his best friend's girl. With Finn's girl. With Rachel Berry.

Yet, no matter what happened with Finn and Rachel, she had been Puck's first.

She had those tiny little skirts with the knee high socks and that sway in her walk that made her hips sashay.

And then, when she wanted something and she'd bit her bottom lip, Finn couldn't help but...react.

She was fine, there was no way Finn could deny it.

But she would always have that mark of Puck's girl.

The Puckerman dibs would be on her forever, because she would always be Puck's girl.

She was tainted.

Because she had chosen to date Puck before anything.

She had allowed Puck to be her first kiss.

And then she had to go and call him Noah. _Her _Noah.

So, yes, Rachel was fine as fuck, but she was tainted. Terribly tainted.

Because she had been Puck's girl before she'd ever been Finn's girl, and she would always be Puck's, in a way.

* * *

Puck sat in his truck, outside of Rachel's house, later that day, blaring his music. He was just going to let the records play until he knew what to do.

Of course, listening to music killed him. Because he had to remember the way that Rachel danced. And with that came the way she moved.

And the way that she'd stare at him, when she'd sneak those tiny little looks from across the room that made him melt.

She was loaded, of course, while he was nothing more than a pauper to her. She carried around her Dior bags and her Chanel sunglasses pulled her hair back.

And she dressed in nothing less than Louis Vuitton and HG and YSL-he didn't even know what the stupid initials stood for in those brands!

ANd him? He had DC and Nike. Those were his go-to labels. He was lucky if he was given a Northface for Christmas when other kids got that plus UGG boots.

Puck was a bad ass, though, so it wasn't like any of that mattered to him. But he wanted to be worthy of Rachel, all the same, and at least in the same financial branch.

No, no matter what he did. No matter what he bought to try and better himself for her, she stayed where she belonged-higher than him.

And the record kept freaking playing, the same old song and dance he'd grown so use to.

Yet, no matter how many of his friends she flirted with and dated, she always seemed to go back to him. Because he was her best friend, but he could feel something more.

Rachel liked him. She liked his music, too. She believed in him and all of his talent.

Yet, before they'd been able to make their friendship public, she had ignored him in the hallways and stood as far from him as possible.

Which is why the slushy facials began. Because he was bitter, no matter how petty that sounded. No matter how rude that sounded, it was true.

He had his tattoos and his mohawk. His hog and his axe. But none of that was really him. It was all an act, as if to rub in her face that they didn't belong together.

Yet he was always a cause of the fights between her and her boyfriends.

With Jesse, she never wanted to talk about it, and he let that go because he was just so god damn full of himself he really wasn't all that worried.

But Finn? He wanted to fight about it and he wanted to fight about it constantly.

With Rachel, and with Puck, who honestly didn't want to fight about it when he knew it wouldn't change the outcome.

Puck just wanted to stay out of their relationship and let his heart break happen already so he could move on and get over it.

Yet, whenever he stepped out of the ring, Finn was there to pull him back in. And Rachel hated it, and she hated Finn for it.

Which was why he'd been inside his truck for so long. Finn was in Rachel's house, and they had been fighting for hours.

He could hear the swearing from the house, and he could see Finn stare at the truck parked outside every now and then, scowling at the mohawked boy in the truck.

But Puck let his music keep playing. It was a song Rachel knew well, after all. Her favorite song, sung by him. And he'd written it himself.

Now he was just waiting for Finn to get his hands off of his girl so Rachel could run out and see him.

Of course, that was nothing more than wistful thinking, because his musical soulmate seemed to believe FInn was her perfect match.

But he still wanted Finn to get his hands off of his girl.


	3. Chapter 3

**Happy Holidays  
A Glee Fan Fiction  
Chapter 3**

On the third day of that week, Rachel waltzed into school wearing her charm bracelet, which jingled and jangled with every little step she took, and her sparkling earrings. She had on a tight, form-fitting, hot pink and black stripped knit pencil skirt that fell to the middle of her thighs with a black, off the shoulder sweater and black wedged-heel boots with a pair of hot pink knee high socks peaking out from the very top of her boots. At her side was a very angry Finn Hudson, who she had just recently gotten into a very long fight with, over the giver of her daily presents. Puck had showed up at her house, of course, to give her a ride to school, but Finn had gotten there first and Puck had simply pulled out of the driveway as quickly as he'd pulled into it and driven swiftly down the street, sending Rachel a 'good morning' text message. Of course, all of the drama between the two boys was confusing her to no end, because her entire fight with Finn the previous night stemmed back to him being jealous of her friendship with Puck, which was apparently a new occurrence, even though she and Noah Puckerman had been best friends since before Finn had even been able to call Puck a friend. And their fight hadn't just been angry, bitter words tossed back and forth. It had been loud and it had been terrible, leading to an almost-break-up.

Long story short? Finn had accused Puck of harboring a crush on Rachel that had developed into love, and Rachel had told him that he was delusional and a little bit crazy. Finn had gotten terribly offended and told Rachel she was just a stupid, naive, innocent girl who didn't understand a guy like Puck. They'd gone back in forth, screaming at one another in such a way, before she had finally told him that if he no longer trusted her, he might as well break up with her. That had stopped him. He was at a lost for words, as he muttered something about how he was stressed out with his grades, basketball, college, and work, as well as trying to get a gift that would impress her, especially since she was now receiving daily presents from an anyonomous giver, and it was causing him to get angry faster and easier than usual. Rachel knew that it was all a loud of crap, but she loved Finn-she really did-and she didn't want to fight. So she'd told him that the gifts meant nothing, they were just a sweet gesture, and that she loved him. He'd left, giving her a swift kiss, obviously contented, and then picked her up for school the next morning in a very hostile mood.

And the fact that today's present was taped to Rachel's locker definitely didn't help matters, at all. Taped to her locker, with hot pink zebra stripped duct tape-her absolute favorite, of course-was a piece of carefully crafted plastic, made to look like wood. It was one of those silly little wands that Harry Potter fans waved away, that lit up at the end and was meant to resemble a wand for a particular character. She barely had to glance at the wand to know that it was Hermione Granger's-ten and three quarter inches long, made of vine wood with a dragon heartstring at the core. It was the wand that belonged to her absolute favorite character, and it had a piece of paper wrapped around it, which was obviously her clue for the day, acting as her card that was supposed to tell her who gave the gift, yet only seemed to tell her a riddle that made it more complicated to thank the person who bought her the gift. Of course, there were only a handful of people who actually knew her this well, so she had a good hunch about who the giver was.

"What the-are you freaking kidding me?" Finn Hudson rolled his eyes, groaning at the sight in front of Rachel. He reached for the wand and snapped it off of her locker, causing her to cringe at the horrible sound made by the duct tape being ripped off of the locker. He tossed the wand on the floor besides him and unrolled the note, staring at it intently before looking up at her. "What the hell does any of this shit even mean? How could anybody freaking figure out who the hell left this for you with what they wrote?" He rolled his eyes again as he glared at her, as if this entire thing were her own fault. Like she could have stopped it, when he knew that she had no idea who was leaving her the presents. Just because she assumed it was a certain person, didn't mean that she was correct about her assumption. She could be wrong, and that would be horribly horrifying.

"Finn, please just calm down and give me the note." Rachel sighed, holding her hand out for the paper. He narrowed his eyes at her in distaste as he slapped it down into her outstretched hand. He reached down, picked up the wand, and snapped it in half over his knee before tossing the pieces back onto the ground and storming away in anger, not even bothering to say a simple goodbye to the girl who was struggling to comprehend what his problem was with her receiving presents that had to do with her personality, as well as getting presents for a holiday that she actually celebrated, rather than one she pretended to enjoy because it was his favorite holiday.

She sighed as she shook her head, opening her locker and picking up the broken shards of the wand, placing them neatly on the highest shelf she could reach in her locker. She grabbed the books she'd need for her homeroom class and closed the locker, leaning against the cool metal with the note in her hand, opened up against her binder so that she could read it before she took off for her first class of the day. She needed to know who was sending her the presents, and she needed to know right then and there.

_My hot little Jewish American Princess-that pretty much gives away the whole secrecy thing, doesn't it? But I figured it was about time you knew, because I know your little boyfriend's getting all concerned that you might just like me better. Anyways, I just want you to know that I'll wait for you as long as you wait for your Hogwarts letter to come, alright? _

Of course Rachel was able to tell exactly who had sent her the presents by that note. Honestly, even if somebody didn't understand the other references to him in the note, it was obviously just my the greeting of the note who it was.

And she could have kicked herself for not knowing right away who it was. She'd never felt so stupid in her life.

* * *

"I know it was you," Rachel whispered as she slid into the chair across from Puck in the library during study hall that day. Lauren Zizes may have been the one to show him there the library was, but he went there every single day since he found out where it was to watch his beautiful girl search the shelves for a book or to watch her sit there and study. In a way, he felt like he was Krum from Harry Potter, with all the girls watching him and following him, yet he hung out at the library to try and grab the attention of the one girl who didn't notice him at all. THe nerdy, quiet girl most people didn't look twice at.

"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about," He lied smoothly, glancing up from the book he was reading. He'd started out pretending to read it, but the book was full of blood, gore, violence, war, and lots of sex. So who was he to call himself a bad ass when he passed up a book like _Game of Thrones, _with over eight hundred pages of all the most bad-ass things he'd ever read on paper in his entire life? Yeah, try to argue with _that _logic!

"I know that you're the one who left me all of those gifts. And I know that you and Finn got into a fight over the fact yesterday. Thank you, Noah, for getting me the presents and allowing me to actually celebrate Hanukkah outside of my own home for once. It was a pleasant change, and I'm-"

"Why are you with him?" Puck cut her off suddenly, shocking himself and her with the way he rudely interrupted her, something nobody-not even Finn or Kurt-had ever done to her before when she wasn't fighting with them.

She studied him for a few seconds, taking in his facial expression with a confused arch to her eyebrows. She shook her head slightly, lowering her gaze towards the ground and he knew that she was about to lie to him, acting stupid. She was going to play dumb with the village fool, and the worst part was that she actually thought she would be able to get away with it.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about, Noah. I don't think I understand what you mean, pondering the question as to why I'm dating Finn," She said, her chin suddenly high in the air as she tried to act all high and mighty in a perfect impression of a particular blonde haired cheerleader who Rachel had been slowly becoming more and more like during her relationship with a particular tall, dark haired, dopey-grinned quarterback who thought he was the shit just because he could carry a tune. It wasn't even like he could dance on top of his voice. He could just sing. What good was that?

"You know exactly what I'm talking about Rachel, so cut the god damn crap and just answer my question. Why the hell are you dating Finn, because he treats you like shit and he's done nothing but change you and bring you down ever since you got together, and that shit ain't kosher. I stood by and let it happen for a while now, and I'm tired of it. So unless you can tell me why the hell you let him do that, I'm going to put an end to it," Puck said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I...I love him," Rachel whispered, lowering her head, all of her pride gone as she stuttered the over-used, untrue phrase out.

"Yeah, I thought it was something like that," Puck shook his head, rolling his eyes as he stood up and walked away.

* * *

"I want you to talk some sense in Rachel," Puck declared, crossing his arms as he slid into the lunch table besides a very unlikely person. "And I want you to convince her that Finn's not good for her, like the rest of us already know," He commanded.

The surprising part about who he was asking for help was not the fact that _he _was talking to them. They belonged to the same social circle, in a certain way. And they had their history-which was probably what made it awkward, to be fair.

But he wasn't going to give up and not ask for help from the only person who would be able to help him. Even if that meant begging and groveling from a particular blonde head cheerleader who went by Quinn Fabray.

"What's it in for me?" She asked, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms slowly over her chest. She raised her eyebrows, as if to tell him that she were waiting for him to continue with his little rant.

"I'll tell Shelby to let you start visiting Beth again," Puck blurted out. So what if it was the first thing that came to mind. He would be an idiot if he tried to say Quinn wouldn't enjoy that reward for her good deed.

"Alright...fine-what do you want me to tell?" Quinn lowered her eyebrows, yet she still eyed him with suspicion as she leaned back towards the table, leaning in close to him with a secretive grin on her face.

"I just want her to realize that he doesn't love her or care about her half as much as he thinks he does. And I want you to make her realize that she doesn't feel that way about him either." Puck said.

"You expect Rachel to believe _me _about the fact that Finn only wants to bring her down and wants to make her feel worthless so she'll follow him wherever the hell he ends up going in life?" Quinn wondered in surprise.

"Who better? I mean, he did the same thing to you, didn't he?" Puck wondered reasonably, shrugging as he pushed his chair back and stood up. "There's nobody who knows Finn Hudson better than you do, Quinn," Puck sighed as he walked away.

* * *

"Hummel!"

"Are you going to throw me in a dumpster for old time's sake?"

"Why the hell would-"

"Azimio just tossed a slushy in my face so he wouldn't ever forget the feeling."

"I'll deal with that jack ass later. Now, I need to ask you a favor."

"Why would I-"

"Why the hell do you think the bullying stopped? Because I gave you my protection."

"You did-"

"Rachel become your friend. You're smart. You know I love her."

"I _knew _it!"

"Can you help me or-"

"Yes, of course."

"Okay, good. I need you to make sure Rachel listens to Quinn about-"

"You don't really think I'm going to pick you over my step brother, do you?"

"We're talking about Rachel's success in the future here."

"What's that-"

"Finn's only going to bring her down."

"True."

"So, you'll help me?"

"Yeah, sure...anything for Rachel." Kurt said.


	4. Chapter 4

**Happy Holidays  
A Glee Fan Fiction  
Chapter 4**

"Rachel, we need to talk," Quinn Fabray said, her blonde head of hair poking out of the window of her tiny little Volkswagon Bug. Rachel paused in her driveway, eyes growing wide at the sight of the popular head cheerleader parked there, with Finn Hudson's old junker behind it. She shook her head as she slowly made a few more steps towards Quinn's car, walking cautiously around the car to the passenger's side.

"Oh, calm the hell down," Santana Lopez's voice rang from the back seat, where she looked very annoyed at being placed. The latino's arms were crossed tightly over her chest and a scowl was plastered on her pretty face. "Puckerman told her to do this, and you and I both know that she wouldn't dare hurt you when she's on his orders," She rolled her eyes and leaned back against the leather interior.

"Santana, I thought you said you were going to be good. I told you I could only drive you to school if you were _nice _today," Quinn rolled her eyes, shooting a glare towards the back seat. "And as for _you," _She shot a glare at Brittany Pierce who was quietly sitting besides Santana. "Puck gave me strict orders to make sure nobody heard this conversation or why the hell I was being nice and telling Rachel what I really think, so you better make sure this conversation never leaves the god damn car and Puck and I do _not _want any of your 'penguin' and 'greek mythology' tossed into our discussion, understand?" She said with a tone that just dared somebody to defy her.

But, of course, she was Quinn Fabray, so who in their right mind would ever defy her?

"Rachel! Are you coming or what? I've been waiting forever-and what's Quinn doing here? I told you I'd give you a ride, and besides, since when does she ever-"

"Shut the hell up, Hudson," Santana snapped, lowering her window and shivering against the cool wind that came inside from the cold air. "We need to have a little chit-chat with Rachel today so we're driving her to school. If you don't like it, well...too bad. But I advise you to pull the hell out of this driveway before Quinn's car rams right into yours," She threatened as she pulled her head back inside and brought the window up.

"Um, sorry Finn, but it seems important, whatever it is they need to talk to me about, so I think I should-"

"Yeah, sure, whatever. I get it-just three more people you're going to pick over me, since you've been using me this whole time to just get more popular and actually get some friends. If it weren't for me, they wouldn't put up with you. If you and I broke up, they'd leave you in the dirt-again," Finn told her bitterly as he backed out of the driveway and drove away.

Rachel sighed as she climbed into the car, silently sitting besides Quinn without looking at any of the three cheerleaders sitting in the car with her. If this scenerio had happened back when Rachel was a sophomore, she would have been terrified that the leggy Latino was about to jump her for her flirtations with Finn, who was Quinn's boyfriend at the time. And if it had happened the previous year, she would be worried that they'd just desert her someplace for revenge for the insults that she'd tossed Santana's way after so many months of torture from the busty cheerleader herself. This year, she wasn't afraid, but she was nervous.

"Finn's very upset that I didn't ride to school with him today," Rachel finally blurted out, hating the silence in the car.

"Don't tell me-he started up about how you only use him to get popular. All you care about is having friends, right?" Quinn laughed.

"How...how did you-"

"Because he used to do the same thing to me."

"That day Brittany and I walked by talking shit about you during the Britney project-what did he say to you?" Santana spoke up.

"He-"

"He said that they were right, didn't he? Because he was all upset about not being on football anymore." Quinn rolled her eyes.

"How...what's all this about?"

"It's about how Finn doesn't deserve you."

"Finn has a way of picking insecure girls, and using their insecurities to his advantage," Quinn explained.

"He dated _you." _Rachel pointed out.

"And I had more insecurities than you did. Rachel, I was jealous he was going to leave me for _you," _Quinn rolled her eyes.

"You were afraid he'd-"

"He was flirting with you, and you are gorgeous. I was worried he saw something in you that I didn't have." Quinn explained.

"Anyways, Finn has a tendency to pick out weak, insecure girls who he can easily manipulate and control. That's why he went directly from Quinn to you. He tried to be with me, but he couldn't exactly make me fit his mold, so he went to you," Santana went on.

"He wants to isolate his girlfriend from everybody, so that she depends on him, in an almost scary sort of needy way. He wants them to fit this idea he has of the perfect girlfriend." Quinn said.

"He needs to know that he's not going to be left. It's not that he's a bad guy who's totally cunning or something like that. He just wants to be able to depend on somebody, and have them depend on him. He has a fear of being left," Santana explained.

"Which is why he's constantly putting you down and trying to make it seem like your dreams can never be reached. He wants you to stay with him and he wants you to be as afraid of losing him as he is of losing you." Quinn said.

"I don't think that's necessarily true. I mean, maybe he was like that when you and him dated, Quinn, but I don't really believe that he wants me to feel terrible about myself just so that I'll stay with him," Rachel sighed.

"Rachel, you do realize that the only reason he ever left me to go out with you was because I slept with Puck and got pregnant. He realized that I knew I was worth something and that scared him. So, he gave up on me." Quinn sighed.

"He went back to her as soon as he realized that you could be with somebody else too, and that you knew you could get somebody else. He immediately wanted Quinn back and he immediately started treating her the same way again." Santana said.

"And then he broke up with Quinn to be with me. How do you expect me to believe that this is anything more than petty jealous over the fact that Finn wants me and not her?" Rachel wondered.

"Because I'm over him, Rachel. I don't want him anymore than Santana wants Puck. But he went back to you when he saw just how close you were suddenly getting to Puck and that Jesse was back in your life. He wanted you to depend on him," Quinn sighed.

"He wanted _both _of you to depend on him. He wanted to make sure that from now on, he wouldn't have to be afraid of losing one of you, because he'd have a fall back plan," Santana sighed.

* * *

"Can you believe them? I mean, they come to my house when we're not even friends and command that I get into the car with them, only to fill the entire ride with a conversation about how Finn doesn't deserve me and only wants to be with me because he can manipulate me into thinking terribly of myself so that I'll be afraid of losing him?" Rachel ranted.

As soon as Quinn had parked her car, Rachel had exited the vehicle, slamming the door shut behind her as she stormed across the parking lot to find Kurt just exiting his 'baby'. She'd grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into step with herself and started to explain her terrible morning to her best friend, the only person who cared about her and her opinions enough to listen to her many rants.

"Rachel, I'm going to have to stop you there, because, well, personally, I agree with them. And, I mean, well...this conversation you had with them? It's bothering you quite a bit, and something tells me that it wouldn't be bothering you this much if a part of you didn't believe that it was true," Kurt admitted sheepishly to her.

Rachel scowled, turning to glare at him as she mindlessly spun the dial on her locker combination lock, pulling the clasp undone and opening her locker. She turned her attention to the gift and spotted a pale pink wrapped gift with a brilliant gold bow at the top, sitting on the middle shelf of her locker. She reached up and grabbed the package, frowning in confusion.

"It's not that I don't love Finn," Kurt was still saying. "Because you know that I do, especially since he's my step-brother and all that, but, well...would you feel so defensive if somebody told you I was only your friend because I wanted to keep a close eye on my competition? You would just laugh it off, wouldn't you? Because you know me so well?" He wondered, raising his eyebrows.

"Of course you aren't just using me to watch my talent!" Rachel laughed, shaking her head. "That's crazy talk. Anyways, new topic, because I don't want to fight. Look, Noah left me _another _present this morning!" She said, unable to hide the beaming smile that forced its way across her face as she stared at it.

"Why don't you open it?" Kurt asked, raising his eyebrows. He didn't know what Puck had gotten her, but he sure as hell hoped it would make her believe Quinn's brilliant warning about Finn. Because Kurt had no choice but to agree with the blonde. Finn only wanted Rachel because he could bring her down and make her feel like shit.

He loved her, there was no doubting that, but he knew that she was meant for bigger and better things than Lima, Ohio. He knew that if she didn't make it on Broadway, out in New York City, she would make it twice as big in Los Angeles as a recording artist or an actress, if not both. And he knew that neither of those big cities that were full of talent and beautiful people were meant for himself. So, he had to try and tear Rachel's dreams apart, to make sure that she didn't realize their differences.

They brought out the worst in one another. They weren't meant to date each other and they weren't mean to be in a relationship. Friends? Why not. But boyfriend and girlfriend just didn't work for them. They wanted different things. They were meant for different things. There was no way that either of them could fulfill their dreams as long as they tried to worry about the other one making a success of themselves as well. They constantly brought one another down.

Yet Puck and Rachel? Not only did they have a wonderful, magical effect on people that only Puckleberry could have, but they brought out the absolute best in one another. They gave each other compliments and helped one another reach their goals. They were able to compromise and their dreams were so similar that it only made sense that they got together and stayed together. Rachel Berry and Noah Puckerman, two complete opposites who formed a beautiful cliche.

"Oh my god!" Rachel's gasp pulled him out of his thoughts and he turned towards her to find her holding up a beautiful, black scrapbook covered with golden stars. Her name was on the front cover, and when she opened the pages, she found a picture of herself, as a little girl, with a boy around the same age holding her from around the waist, lifting her up off of the ground as she giggled. It was obvious that the boy was Puck. "I...Noah," She smiled, closing the book and slipping it back into her locker.

Kurt smirked. Those pictures, when Rachel took the time to go through the book, would remind her of the innocent and pure relationship she had had with Noah Puckerman, making the sex shark stop moving, yet not allowing him to die as he'd claimed when Quinn had been angry at his girl-hungry ways. She and Noah were better than her and FInn, and that scrapbook just had to remind her of it. Kurt was absolutely positive of it.

"I need to go and talk to Finn," Rachel declared, closing her locker as she turned around to face Kurt. "I think I'm starting to see some truth to what Quinn, Santana, and you have been trying to tell me. It just took a little reminder from Noah, is all," She said, giving Kurt a tiny wink as she flashed a quick glance at the folded up piece of paper she was holding in her hands, obviously acting as her hint for the day, despite the fact that she already knew it was Puck.


	5. Chapter 5

**Happy Holidays  
A Glee Fan Fiction  
Chapter 5**

Finn had not taken the break-up well.

He hadn't taken the break-up well for two very good reasons.

1) He knew that Rachel was breaking up with him because of reasons somebody else had put into her head.

and 2) He understand that she was breaking up with him in order to start a relationship with Puck.

So, who could expect him to take the break-up well?

Besides, it wasn't exactly like she'd been _gentle _with the whole ordeal.

_"I think we need to break-up," _She'd said those dreadful words as if she were saying she thought they should skip class.

She said them like they were _nothing. _

As if their meaning _wasn't _Finn's heartbreak.

And that was what killed him more than anything.

Rachel hated to hurt people, but for Puck? For her precious little Noah?

She did absolutely anything for him.

SHe wanted his love and his affection. And all she'd ever get was his lust.

Puck would leave her broken hearted and no time, and she'd come running back to Finn.

He was sure of it.

But that didn't mean he was going to take the break-up like it was good news.

* * *

Friday morning, Rachel slipped on one of her few pairs of a jeans-a pair of tight legged skinny jeans-and tugged on her favorite black suede boots with the five inch wedged heel, making her appear to be five foot eight, rather than her usual five foot three inches.

She finished buttoning up her three-quarter sleeve white blouse over the red camisole she'd paired it with and smiled at her reflection. She knew she looked good, and she was still floating on the fact that Quinn had called her gorgeous the previous day.

She grabbed her book bag and debated on taking the tiny slip of paper that had been left with her gift the day before. She slid it off of the desk and into her hand with a devious smile as she read over the sloppily scrawled print one more time.

_Does he make you laugh the way that I did? Does he ever make you feel the way that I did? Just think about that, when you're telling yourself Quinn was lying through her teeth, okay? _

She honestly should have known that Puck-her dear, sweet, wonderful Noah-had been the one to put Quinn up to that car-ride conversation the day before, but what exactly did it mean?

Could it possibly be that he was as eager for a Puckleberry reunion as everybody else in the glee club seemed to be? She was Kurt's best friend and she had seem all the bets being made on when they would get back together.

There was something about her relationship with Puck that made everybody else in the club happy and wonderful. She was, after all, the only one of Puck's girlfriends that Santana had never gone after.

Sure, she had verbally assaulted her countless times, but she'd albeit stopped those attacks as soon as Puck had brought her that grape slushy and asked her out. Santana had sort of befriended Rachel during the relationship.

And Brittany was always muttering something about penguins and Geek mythology whenever she saw that Puck and Rachel were doing anything together. Rachel wasn't sure what it meant, but she did understand it meant they were supposed to be together.

Finn had always feared that Rachel would remember her old feelings of passion for Puck, which was why he always tried to so hard to keep them apart and win Rachel over whenever he could feel her start to drift.

The New Directions understood that Rachel and Puck were meant to be together. The question was whether Rachel knew that herself, or if Puck knew that they were supposed to be together.

* * *

Of course, Noah Puckerman _did _know that he and Rachel Berry were supposed to be together. He wasn't an idiot, even if the rest of the students at McKinley-and a large selection of the teachers-believed that the bad ass slacker of a student was completely and ridiculously stupid when it came to all aspects of comprehension. He honestly was smart.

He had a brain and he knew how to make it work. He could understand things and he was actually a genius when it came to putting shit together. He could read faster than anybody else in the grade-except for maybe Rachel and Mike-and when they read that Shakespeare crap, his teacher always had him read the longest, hardest roles, because he was just the shit at that crap.

So yeah, it wasn't like he was an idiot who belonged back in medieval times. He was smart, he just didn't give two shits, because all of his life, he'd been told he'd never make it out of Lima. But he knew when there was a test and he showed up for every one, always getting an A+ written across the top. He did his homework. He just didn't show up for class.

Because he couldn't deal with stupid morons. It was one thing that he didn't care and didn't bother to show up to class. He wasn't taking away from the students that did care. But the morons who openly admitted that they didn't give two shits and disrupted class for the students like Rachel who wanted to learn? He hated those assholes with a cold, dying passion.

Really, though, everything negative that was said about Puck was just a conspiracy. Like the fact that he didn't have a heart. People loved to say that he couldn't love. But, in reality, he'd just suffered so much that he didn't want to show his affection anymore. He was too afraid of getting hurt. After all, the people with the biggest hearts tended to be the ones who suffered the most.

He wasn't trying to say that was perfect. That would be another conspiracy and yet another lie about her character. He was not perfect and he never was. He never would be perfect. But at least he didn't live his life pretending to be the one thing he was positive that he wasn't-and then an idea struck him that caused him to smirk.

He had forgotten to add a note to Rachel's present for that day, unsure of what it was he could say next to get her to fall for him. But, when he thought about all the things people said about him and called him, it was quite obvious what he needed to write. So, he grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and started to write. He finished with just enough time to go and pick up Rachel.

* * *

Rachel had met a lot of guys in her life. There had been Artie Abrams, the sweetheart who she probably should have fallen for immediately with his good looks and kind heart, but had never been anything more than a friend to her. There was Matt Rutherford and Mike Chang, who were so quiet yet always so nice to her and just as good-looking as Artie was himself, if not more so. They were the strong, popular, foot-ball player types, that every high school girl fell for eventually.

There had also been guys like Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson, who were not interested in her in the least. Kurt, the obvious gay with the killer fashion sense and Broadway roots. And Blaine, the drop-dead-gorgeous guy that just added to the female population's belief that all hot boys were gay. And Blaine was gay-not just bisexual, but gay. He'd tried to whole bisexual thing before, and it hadn't worked for him. He wanted to be with boys, and there was nothing wrong with that.

Sam Evans and Finn Hudson were the golden boys. Incredible football players that barely made it by with their grades, yet managed to win a special, beloved place in most teachers' hearts. And they could get pretty much any girl in school to drop their panties for them with a carefully placed smile and the right charming words. Jesse St. James had had the same effect, but he had been the musical hottie, rather than the athletic heart-breaker.

Rory Flannigan was that sweet type of guy that people saw in movies. He wanted one girl, and when he determined who that girl was, he would do anything to get her. And only her. He fell in love hard and he fell in love fast. Sure, he had a tendency to get off track and fall for the hot, popular girl, but the girl his heart belonged to always ended up winning in the end. He was the ideal boyfriend, in almost every aspect of the word. He was practically flawless.

And then there was Noah Puckerman. The bad ass bad boy who could get any girl because girls always wanted the bad boy. But, the bad boy could only be tamed by one girl. There was always one girl that all the bad boys wanted. And that girl was the sweet, innocent, book-smart-only, good girl. The quiet girl who was practically mocked by the rest of the school for her teacher-pet ways. And that girl, at McKinley, was none other than Rachel Berry herself.

Rachel had seen pretty much every type of boy there was to offer in the world, but there was only one guy she wanted. She mused that thought as she walked towards her locker after a ride to school with Puck who had sprinted from his truck and into the school as soon as they parked, obviously eager to adjust something on her gift, she determined when she saw him casually walking away from her locker. She smiled to herself as she approached, removing the present from the top first and smiled when she opened it.

He'd given her a black and white diamond ring today, with the two layers of diamonds crossing over one another diagonally at the middle. It was slender little thing, but the item that had been on the top of her list for Finn. Yet Puck had purchased it for her. She grinned as she reached for the note that had been taped under her present. Tearing it from the locker, she unfolded it carefully and laughed as she read it over:

_So you've already had Mr. Player. And Mr. Stupid...Mr. Idiot...Mr. Psycho. Even Mr. Cheap and Mr. Lazy. Don't forget Mr. User or Mr. Know-it-all. There was Mr. Control freak there too. Oh, and of course, Mr. Stalker. But, what about Mr. Right? I know what you're asking yourself right now. Where the hell is Mr. Right? Well, just turn right around and stop looking for Mr. Big Spender and Mr. Cheater and look at a plain, simple guy who thinks the world of you. Turn around and give me a chance. _

* * *

Eight o'clock, every single morning, Noah Puckerman was stuck waiting at the locker of a beautiful girl who was way cooler than he was himself, just so that he could talk to her. Her name was Rachel Berry and she was born to be a star. And she had a freaking tattoo of a star around her _belly button. _And a god damn _belly button ring. _Not many people knew that, but he knew that for her sixteenth birthday, she'd wanted to do something wild, so she'd convinced one father to let her get a tattoo and the other to take her for the piercing. He knew because she'd told him, because they'd always been friends. Best friends.

Sure, sometimes Rachel didn't understand his vulgar humor or what he meant when he was going overboard on the whole 'perverted player' thing, but she laughed a lot of the time and said some pretty bad-ass things herself, without even realizing how dirty what she had said could be taken. And whenever he laughed at an innocent remark that could be taken in such a dirty way, she would slap him on the back of the head and tell him to please, get his mind out of the gutter, just please, and to grow up a little bit, if he didn't mind. And he would only laugh harder, earning a punch on the arm.

Rachel was his life. It was what his life revolved around. She would walk and the wind would blow, as if it were only around her, making her appear like a model on a runway with her hair blowing. Angels freaking sang-not as well as she sang, of course, but still-and it was made pretty damn clear that she would never notice him as anything more than a friend. She'd rather watch musicals and fawn all over the football players. She'd prefer a lovely Broadway show tune to rap music and in her eyes were bright, golden stars, which were a metaphor. A metaphor for herself, because metaphors were important.

IT was so cliche that he loved her. It was like all of those bad movies he'd always made fun of. Only in reverse, because she looked right through him. Their roles were reversed and he played her part in screaming for somebody to just shoot him already and take him out of his misery. Because the girl he was trying to get? Was the girl that every single bad boy wanted. THe bullies and the assholes. The cheaters and the perverts. She was the girl all the bad guys wanted, but the king of the bad boys couldn't even get her. Rachel Berry was perfect at playing the role of the innocent girl, and it turned every bad boy in the school on.

And then she would walk by him with her knee high socks on, a headband in her hair and he was forced to remember sophomore year. The year when she had broken his heart. He'd had to be albeit sedated at the fact that _Rachel Berry _had dumped his sorry as for _Finn Hudson _who had been cheated on by _Quinn Fabray _with himself. There was something backwards about that fact. But, Rachel wanted to be with guys that were older, like Jesse St. James, or a star athlete, like Finn Hudson. She wanted a guy who could drive a killer car-Blaine Anderson. Not one who could rock a mohawk like nobody else.

But did his best to be what she wanted. He'd joined the football team when she'd made a comment back in middle school about how hot football players were according to the movies. He tried to be the tough guy when she'd pointed out her tendency to fall for the bad boys in TV shows or movies. He listened to all that Broadway shit and showered her in gold stars whenever he saw something with one on it. Yet he couldn't make himself much older than her and he couldn't make himself a quarterback. All he was able to be was himself. And that wasn't good enough for her. Still, he only wanted to see her naked.


	6. Chapter 6

**Happy Holidays  
A Glee Fan Fiction  
Chapter 6**

Saturday morning, Rachel wasn't expecting anything from her 'secret Hanukkah' version of a secret santa.

She should have known that would mean she would wake up to a gift.

Of course, it wasn't so much of a gift as a piece of green weed hanging over her bed. She was familiar with what it was and the tradition that came along with it, but she'd never actually been required to carry through the tradition in any way.

After all, she was Jewish, and very proud of the fact. The few times she had been stuck under a leaves that the Cheerios hung around the school each year around Christmas time, that had been her excuse to get out of the torture.

And it had worked for her every single year, with whatever boy she was forced to stand under the plant with, even when it was that obnoxious ginger with the Jew-fro that she hated with a cold, dying passion, named Jacob Ben Israel. This year, however, she would have no choice but to kiss whoever she was under the mistletoe with.

Because not only was the boy a fellow Jew-a fellow _hot _Jew, if anybody asked him what he and Rachel had in common-but he had been the one to hang the plant there, and he obviously had a very good reason for doing so, and making sure he was sitting on the edge of her bed with a confident smirk on his face as he raised his eyebrows upon her first glance at the mistletoe.

She should have suspected this, of course, being as the person leaving her all of these lovely little surprises was none other than Noah Puckerman, the infamous playboy of a stud back at school. She should have known she wouldn't be able to get out of him doing nice things for her without having to return the favor with some sort of payment. She just hadn't expected him to ask for a kiss when giving her a present, especially so soon after her break-up with Finn, who was supposed to be his best friend.

How she could have doubted that, though, with his history, was beyond her. He had, after all, had sex with Quinn Fabray _during _her relationship with Finn. And he'd even gotten her pregnant before spilling the secret, after the entire school thought the baby was Finn's, and dating the girl for the duration of her pregnancy, only breaking up after the birth of the baby when they realized just how deep their hatred towards one another really went.

And then there was how he had kissed Rachel herself, during a fight she was having with Finn over a lie he'd told her in regards to his sexual relationship with Santana Lopez. It was a long and complicated story where Finn had been the one to be in the wrong, yet Rachel had been the one with a broken heart when Finn heard the news of her make-out session with Puck, solely based on the hurt feelings that his terrible lie had left her with. The make-out session that had been caused by anger from being lied to. Still, Rachel had come out looking like the villain while Finn seemed to be the victim.

Honestly, thinking back on that pain-filled memory, Rachel wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around Puck's neck and pull him close to her for a kiss that she was sure would rock her world. Puck's kisses always managed to excite her in all the worst ways. They always left her ready to break her vows to be a good, chaste girl who remained a virgin until after marriage-something she had already forgotten about when she'd slept with Finn, of course-and tear his clothes off. Puck was an excellent kisser, after all, and when she was wrapped up in those arms, she felt like she finally belonged somewhere in the world where she wasn't playing a character.

"Are you going to stop thinking and kiss me already?" Puck asked.

"What makes you think I was thinking?" Rachel asked, lifting herself into a sitting position, raising an eyebrow at him.

"That expression on your face right now. The one where your eyes get all starry and dazed, like you don't know where you are or what you're doing," Puck shrugged, nodding towards her with his chin.

"Well, what makes you think I even want to kiss you?" Rachel asked, shaking off his thoughtless answer that showed just how much attention he must pay to her, to answer so quickly and surely.

"The way your lips automatically started to pucker up when you saw the mistletoe and how you smiled at me all dopey and goofy. You never look like that unless you're in your silly little crush mode," Puck observed, shrugging once more and making her seeth at how well he knew her. It killed her that he could read her like a book, without any thought to it.

"Alright, so maybe I was thinking and maybe I do want to kiss you. What makes you think that I'm going to actually go through with my thoughts and kiss you? I just got out of a relationship and it would be wrong of me to allow you to kiss me, or to allow myself to kiss-"She was cut off my him leaning in and pressing his lips against her own.

"Did anybody every tell you that you talk _way _too much sometimes, Berry?" Puck wondered, raising his eyebrows as he stood up. He reached above her bed and removed the mistletoe, sitting back down as he held the plant out to her. It was a lovely display, really, with a glass ornament at the very top with the greenery surrounding the bottom, tiny, fake red cherries buried in the shrubs. And stuck inside was a piece of white paper, her note for the sixth day of Hanukkah.

She sighed as she carefully slid the paper from its hold and unfolded the perfectly creased white paper that in order to reveal his sloppy, downward sloping scrawl. He honestly had the worst penmanship she had ever seen before, except for when he wrote in that all caps, boxy type of writing that boys tended to write in, when they didn't care about proper english or grammar. She sighed, remembering all of the notes they'd passed back and forth throughout the years, all saved in her dresser drawer.

_Rachel, I've wanted to kiss you for the longest time. Ever since Junior year when I told you I couldn't do that to Finn again, because he was my bro and I already slept with one of his girlfriends. I was stupid. I should have told you right then and there how I felt and let you make up your mind about what to do with him. If you'd wanted to dump him, I should have let you. I should have told you how he didn't deserve you and how I loved you. I should have just kept going until you told me to stop, instead of breaking all of my rules about never turning a girl down. I love you, Berry, and I always have. And I always will. _

"So, I guess what I'm trying to say..."Puck said, when she glanced up at him after reading the note. "Is that I sort of want you to be my girlfriend. It would be pretty damn awesome if you said yes, and all, since I did all this romantic crap to try and win you over, and I was pretty sure it worked after you broke up with Finn, but I could be wrong. So, I was just wondering if you wanted to be my girlfriend and let me stop my-"He was cut off by her lips pressing against him, moving just enough to form the word 'yes' against his own lips. And when she pulled away, she smirked as she told him that he talked way too much.

* * *

"He brought mistletoe to your house and hung it over your bed?" Kurt Hummel asked in wide-eyed amazement as he spoke.

They were sitting at the Lima Bean, each with an extremely girly and complicated drink in their hand, discussing Rachel's morning.

"Yes, that about sums the entire thing up," Rachel sighed, wrapping her hands around her french vanilla soy latte with extra foam.

"But...I don't get it. Just the other day you were both complaining about the lack of Jewish songs in our concerts," Kurt frowned.

"What does that have to do with Noah's uncharacteristic act of romance?" She wondered, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Well, you were upset that we ignored your Jewish heritage, but you just did a Christmas tradition," Kurt pointed out.

"Can you please explain to me what that has to do with my story?" Rachel rolled her eyes, cursing Kurt's love of details.

"I'm just trying to make sure I understand everything," Kurt sighed, taking a sip of his peppermint-mocha iced decaf latte.

"There's honestly not that much to understand. Noah came over with my sixth present and asked me out."

"Via mistletoe and a note saying that he should have slept with you the same way he slept with Quinn sophomore year?"

"You're ruining the Cloud-Nine vibe I was floating on from Noah's romantic actions, Kurt," Rachel glared at him.

"I'm just trying to make sure you realize what you're getting into exactly. I don't want you getting hurt."

"More like you don't want me to be with Noah because you know the problems it will cause with Finn."

"That might be a part of it." Kurt admitted. "But I honestly care about you and your feelings. You're fragile, Rach," he sighed.

"I get that we're friends and all, but Noah really does care about me. And I know you all know that, so I don't-"

"It's not that I'm debating his love for you. I'm merely wondering whether he can commit to one girl," he admitted.

"He was with Quinn for half of sophomore year," Rachel said, sitting up a little straighter in her chair. Her pride was important to her.

"Because she was having his baby. They were having a baby together, Rachel," Kurt reminded her with a 'duh' tone of voice.

"And Lauren? He dated her for a large portion of junior year. He would still be with her, probably, if she hadn't dumped him."

"He was with Lauren because it improved his reputation, not because he was madly in love with her."

"Will you please stop trying to ruin this for me? I'm happy, Kurt, and if you were really my friend, you'd let me remain happy."

"Of course I'm your friend. I just don't want you to get hurt because I don't let you know everything I fear."

"And you want to be able to say 'I told you so' when things go wrong." Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Maybe I want to delay your relationship for my own personal needs," Kurt shrugged.

"When did you bet on us getting back together? I'll freaking delay when we go public, does that make you happy?"

"Yes, yes it does indeed. It gives me a lot of pocket money as well," Kurt beamed.

"You're buying coffee. For the next ten years," Rachel informed him with another eye roll.

"Alright, I suppose that's fair enough," Kurt allowed. "You could have-"

"And pastries. You'll be supplying my coffee and my desserts for the next ten years." Rachel glared.

"Fine," Kurt crossed his arms over his chest, pouting like a little kid who was told no by his parents when asking for ice cream.

* * *

"I really can't be all up on you at school until _Valentine's day? _Just so Kurt can win some stupid bet-which is totally stupid, because you yelled at me and gave me a long lecture about gambling-and buy you god damn coffee?" Puck whined.

"Noah, I find that language completely vulgar and inappropriate. And your gambling was much different than a friendly wager between friends on when two of their friends would get together," Rachel sighed, sitting at Noah's kitchen table, working on homework.

"And I find it completely unfair that I have to wait to announce my totally awesome girlfriend for another two months just to _cheat _so that Kurt can win. Are you going to defend cheating now, too?" Puck smirked.

"Noah, I honestly do not want to fight with you on our first day in a relationship. It cannot be a good sign for us, and perhaps signals that we shouldn't get together until a later date, if ever," Rachel threatened.

"Aw, come on Rachel! Don't be like that. You know I love you and you know I care. That's why I'm upset. I want everybody to know that you're mine and I'm actually worthy of your life," Puck said, walking towards her and placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Noah, I'm your girlfriend. And I love you with all of my heart. A part of me always did, but the rest of me never believed I was good enough. You're not getting rid of me that easily," Rachel teased him.

"Well, that's a good thing, because I didn't plan on letting you go anytime soon. I was planning on holding onto you for quite some time," He said, his voice a low growl in her ear. "Maybe a little closer to-"

"Noah? Is that Rachel Berry I hear in there with you? And did she just call herself your girlfriend? It's official then? The two of you are finally dating?" Rachel's mother beamed-postively beamed-as she entered the kitchen.

"Yeah, mom." Puck sighed, dropping down into a chair besides Rachel with a sigh that signaled defeat. He'd figured he'd have some alone time with his girl. He should have known his mother's Rachel-senses would kick in.

"Hello, Naomi. It's wonderful to see you again." Rachel smiled at Puck's mom. "How are you doing?" She asked as the dark haired, tiny little woman came towards her. Rachel stood up, meeting the hug she'd known was coming.

"How long has my son been hiding you away from me, telling me that he doesn't have any girlfriends or any available Jewish girls to date?" Naomi asked Rachel with a stern look at her son.

"Oh, not long at all. We only just started dating this morning," Rachel explained easily. "He's been leaving me presents for Hanukkah every day, since everybody else forgets about-"

"Mom, you heard that? We haven't even been dating for a _day. _So that means you shouldn't start any of the wedding plans and you _should _let us go and be _alone _for a little while," Puck cut Rachel off.


	7. Chapter 7

**Happy Holidays  
A Glee Fan Fiction  
Chapter 7  
_A/n: While I hate Finn and despise Finnchel, I have to admit that the star idea was the sweetest present in the entire world. So, I'm borrowing Finn's only romantic notion (besides the song we all know that Puck at least co-wrote) and giving it to Puck (after all, Puck probably told Finn to get the star, and Finn ruined it by naming it after himself.)_  
**

Rachel Berry woke up Sunday morning, the seventh day of her present spree, with a wide smile on her face. She was fully expecting another present from her amazing boyfriend, with a cute little note attached. And she was expecting it to be right there when she opened her eyes.

She had never been more wrong in her life.

Not only was there a severe lack of presents in her bedroom, but her surprisingly sweet boyfriend was missing from the picture as well. She sighed as she sat up straight, running a hand through her hair in frustration. It wasn't that she was spoiled or anything like that, but she was a girl and she did enjoy presents. Especially when they were so unexpected-the contents of the gift, not the gift itself, of course. So, who could blame her for being just the smallest bit upset that Puck wasn't hanging around her room with an extraordinary present for her to be received the very moment she opened her eyes? She didn't think it was that much to ask.

She tossed her covers back and climbed out of bed, walking towards her closet as she shivered against the cold. She'd been so eager and sure that Puck would be there when she awoke that she'd worn his old PUCKERMAN baseball tee shirt from when he played Little League with the white base and the red sleeves-she'd stolen it from him long ago, laughing at how adorable he had been to keep the memory-with a pair of tiny little black shorts. The shorts barely covered her ass, which she knew was Puck's favorite asset on her entire body, and the shirt was so tight on her that it revealed the smallest sliver of her stomach, turning into a wide patch of skin whenever she lifted her arms. She'd wanted to surprise him with a little gift of her own, but he'd ruined that idea.

She grabbed his favorite black skirt with a white, three-quarter-sleeve, swoop neck sweater and made her way towards the bathroom attached to her room. She showered quickly, hurrying to get dressed and do her hair and make-up. When she was finished, she slipped on black and grey plaid knee high socks with a pair of high black boots with a little wedge to them. Then she hurried from her room and downstairs, phone in hand, ready to call her boyfriend.

When she reached the front hallway, though, with her finger just about to press send, she was surprised to find his truck already parked in the driveway with the lights flashing against the window. She called a goodbye to her fathers and hurried from the house immediately, racing towards his truck and crawling inside.

Before even allowing a greeting, she pressed herself against him in a kiss, his arms wrapping around her waist to pull her closer after the initial shock of her bluntness.

When she pulled away, she waited for one of his usual, smart-ass remarks, only to be rewarded with a manila folder being handed to her. She frowned in confusion, accepting the present with a questioning look in her eyes. He shook his head, an amused smirk on his face as he watched her, patiently waiting as she opened the folder and slid a certificate from the thick, heavy paper folder it had been confined to.

The present acted as the note today, she could see as the read it. Puck had bought her a star, but he hadn't named it after her, like most people would do. The star hadn't been named after himself or her idol, either. It hadn't even been named for something that she particular had any interest in. If it hadn't been for Finn's speech at Burt and Carole's wedding, and the rumors that had spread about herself and Puck back in the sophomore year, she probably would have wondered what had possessed him to name the star something like that in the first place. A part of her still wondered why he named the star after something he had always called so lame.

After all, he had assumed this particular word had single handedly ruined his reputation as the number one bad ass McKinley had to offer. He had thought of it as a lame and un-bad-ass title for himself to be a part of. He had really despised the fact that his own name was linked to hers. Not because he didn't like her, of course. He'd made it quite clear in the past few days that he did, in fact, like her, and that he had liked her for a very long time. Yes, there had been other girls, but none had compared to Rachel, and his feelings for them had all stemmed back to Rachel. But, his reasoning for hating the link of their names together was merely because she had never really been his. She had always belonged to somebody else, and he hated being reminded of that.

"Puckleberry?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, I thought about naming it Rachel, but there's already a star out there named Rachel Berry. And she's sitting right next to me right now. We can't have two of the same stars. The universe ain't big enough for that," Puck said, grinning sheepishly.

"But why'd you pick Puckleberry? I thought you hated that name and everything that went along with it, because it was so lame? It lowered your bad-ass status, didn't it?" She teased him with a slight smile on her face. Still, she had to admit that this was probably the sweetest thing anybody had ever done for her, even when she remembered the eight days of presents Puck had rewarded her with in order to win her over.

"I hated Puckleberry when it reminded me that I didn't have you and Finn did instead. But now that it's the real deal? I freaking love that shit." He smirked as he swung an arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. "I mean, I wanted to give you something to always remind you how special you are and that you're meant to be a star, and they had all these rules about how two stars can't have the same name, so I figured I couldn't use _your _name. And I figured using my name would be conceited. So I picked our couple name." He shrugged. "Besides, Puckleberry? It's _so _much better than Finchel," He winked.

* * *

"A star?" Finn snapped, bursting into Kurt's room.

"What the hell?" Kurt cried out, turning around from his desk to face the door. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked his step-brother.

"Did Rachel just call you?" Finn glared, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What does that have to do with-"

"Was that Rachel?"

"Yes."

"Was she telling you what Puck got her today?"

"I still don't see what that has to do with-"

"Was she?"

"Yes!"

"And he got her a _star _named Puckleberry?" Finn snarled.

"Again, what does this have to do with-"

"Answer the god damn question, Hummel!"

"Yes, he got her a star. Are you happy-"

"WHy the hell did he name it Puckleberry? Are they freaking dating now?"

"Yes."

"What the hell?"

"She's not dating you anymore. She's free to date whoever she wants to," Kurt sighed.

"We _just _broke up!"

"So?"

"She can't move on that-"

"She's always loved him. I thought that much was obvious."

"She was supposed to love me."

"Well, she loves him. What would you like me to do about it?" Kurt rolled his eyes.

"He's not going to win."

"Finn, before you go and try to kick Puck's ass, please ask yourself if this is really about you losing Rachel to him because it's Rachel, the girl you love, or if it's about the fact that she's with Puck now, and he's _Puck _who you also lost Quinn to," Kurt ran a hand through his hair.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Quinn was drunk. It was all a mistake, whatever happened between her and Puck. She didn't _pick _him over me. And Rachel's just confused right now, is all," FInn shook his head. But it was clear he was trying to convince himself.

"Finn, are you upset that they both picked Puck, who was supposed to be your sidekick, over you, or are you upset because you loved them and they didn't want you anymore?" Kurt wondered, his voice soft and caring, lacking any sort of judgement.

"Kurt, you don't know what you're talking about. Puck was my best friend, but he has a thing about convincing my girlfriends to leave me for him, and then he hurts them and ruins them. I don't want Rachel to get hurt," Finn explained slowly, as if Kurt was the stupid one.

"You do realize that she was Puck's girl first, right? She dated him before she dated anybody. She loves him, and she always has. I thought that much was made pretty clear," Kurt sighed, shaking his head, lowering his gaze from his brother.

"No, Rachel loves _me. _Don't listen to what Puck tells her to say. She doesn't love him, Kurt. She loves me. He's just filling her head with a lot of pretty lies right now. That's all. Pretty lies that are confusing her, because she likes pretty things." Finn insisted.

"Finn Hudson, you listen to me right now. Rachel Berry is madly in love with Noah Puckerman and she has been for as long as I have been her friend, do you understand me? You were a boy she needed to get over Puck with, and she did love you at some point, but she never stopped loving him."

"She doesn't love him! Damn it, Kurt, stop saying that! DOn't say that she loves him and not me. Don't tell me that our entire relationship was because of him not picking her! Don't taint the best thing that I ever had with him and her love of him!" Finn snapped, turning around and punching a whole right through Kurt's wall.

He started pacing across the room, shaking his head as Kurt sat there in a stunned silence at FInn's sudden outburst. He rarely ever lost control of temper, unless he was extremely mad. THis was not a good sign. Not at all. And it was Kurt's _wall!_

"I knew it, all along, I knew it." Finn sighed. "I always knew she loved him, but I figured, eventually, she's fall in love with me and we could be happy together, you know? And now, to know he got her even though he was a dick? It kills to remember our relationship wasn't real," Finn admitted.

Kurt's heart broke for his brother as he fell to the ground, his face buried in his hands. He had never seen big, strong, popular Finn Hudson _cry_ before. He just looked so defeated and it killed Kurt a little bit to realize that Finn really did love Rachel.

"It was real, Finn. She loved you and she loved every minute with you. But the two of them were just supposed to be together. If you saw them together, if you heard her talk about him...you'd know. She's honestly never been happier before in-"

"I know," Finn muttered, standing up and turning around. "Don't you think I know that? It kills me to know that, and I have to live with it every single day of my life," Finn growled over his shoulder as he walked out of the room, his head held low. But Finn wasn't sad anymore. He was angry.


	8. Chapter 8

**Happy Holidays  
A Glee Fan Fiction  
Chapter 8**

Rachel Berry walked into school Monday morning with Noah Puckerman right at her side. Arm in arm, they strongly resembled the much younger couple that had paraded down the hallway sophomore year, while a star-struck girl babbled on about something that a very tough, mohawk-ed boy couldn't even remember since he hadn't been listening. The younger Puckleberry had been terrified of being mocked relentlessly-only on the male's part, of course. But this new generation? They couldn't have been happier. They didn't care if a slushy came their way or their cliques tried to break them apart. They had one another and they understood one another. What more could they possibly need? They had a love that was flawless, pure, and innocent. And honestly, in a high school relationship, that was all they could really ask for. Trust and love were all their relationship needed.

"You know, Rachel, I really fucking love you," Puck said, pulling her closer to him to plant a kiss on her cheek before letting go of her and giving her a little shove towards her locker with a gentle slap on her ass.

Rachel looked back at him with a mock-glare before walking towards her locker, noticing the lack of a little gift attached. She sighed as she twisted the dial on her lock and pulled the clasp downwards. She opened her locker and smiled at the long, rectangular box on the lowest shelf, right on top of all of her books. She removed the box and pulled off the lid, the only decoration on the box being a silver bow that looked incredible on the black box.

"No," Puck shook his head, reaching out to place a hand on her wrist, stopping her from opening it. "Read the card first," He insisted, reaching into her locker and plucking a piece of folded up gold-star-patterened paper from the middle shelf and holding it out for her between two fingers.

She frowned, giving him a slightly confused look as she accepted the paper and unfolded it, glancing over his messy scrawl.

_Whenever I see an old couple, I think about you and me. Because I want us to be that old couple that people look at to realize that love really does exist. You and me, baby? We're that couple people look at and say 'damn, they're **still **together?' And I know that I'm selfish and want to be the only guy in your life, but I really don't want to be your whole life-just your favorite part. All my life I wanted to just give up on love, after the mess that happened between my parents, but you were there the entire time and you made me believe in love. I knew that as long as you were there, somebody was out there waiting for me. And you know what else? I like you. You're pretty swell. And I mean, you're kind of rock and roll, too-maybe even a little lovely, too. I love you, Rach, forever and ever._

She grinned, smiling up at him as she put the paper back into her locker to be hung up at a later date.

The thing with Puck was that he was just surprisingly sweet. He was that one person that she would meet in her life who was unlike anybody else. She could talk to him for hours and hours without ever getting bored. She knew that no matter what she told him, he would never judge her. He was her soulmate. The person that was like that to somebody else was nothing short of a soulmate. And she was never going to let him go-just like nobody should ever let their soulmate go.

"Okay, you can open it now," He smiled sheepishly, head lowered towards the ground.

The other thing about Puck was that, no matter how sweet he was, he would always turn around and act as if that wasn't him. He wasn't romantic or caring. Even though he was honestly the most romantic boyfriend Rachel had ever had. And he was the type of guy who would care about her even when they were angry with one another.

She slid the lid completely over the box and smiled at the silver chain settled in the velvet.

Rachel had had many necklaces to define who she was over her high school years. In her freshman year she had worn a golden star around her neck that sparkled just as brightly as she was sure she would be shining one day. When she was a sophomore, she had worn a beautiful Star of David necklace to broadcast the fact that she was Jewish and proud of the fact. Junior year she had been given a beautiful diamond necklace that read FINN, telling everybody that she was his girlfriend and nobody else could have her. When they'd broken up, he'd given her a _silver _star, which she had worn until she'd been able to wear FINN once again for the beginning of their senior year. But never had a necklace described her in such a way as the one she had just been given.

This one was not a warning to other boys to star the hell away from her because her boyfriend was a strong, popular boy who would kick any guy's ass who tried to mess with her. It was not a way to tell people that she was a member of the very small Jewish population at school. It did not show everybody that she thought she was better than them by broadcasting that she was a star. This one just showed that she was a part of a loving, romantic relationship.

"Puckleberry?" She raised an eyebrow at the silver chain with the silver font across it, tiny little diamonds studding the letters.

"I was thinking about getting you one that said NOAH so everybody knew that you were mine and they couldn't have you, and then getting a PUCK one for all the times you're angry at me, because I'm sure I'll mess this all up a few times, and I need people to know that you're mine even when you're mad at me, but then I remembered your face when you got the FINN necklace and I knew you didn't want to wear your guy's name around your neck." Puck admitted sheepishly, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Do you like it?" He asked, slowly lifting his head up to meet her gaze with a hopeful expression.

"Of course I like it," SHe grinned, reaching upwards to hold her hair up. "Can you put it on for me?" She wondered.

* * *

"I'm jealous!" Kurt Hummel whined during lunch that day as he and Rachel sat together in the choir room, waiting for their significient other to meet them, as the four Gleeks would be enjoying lunch together. "I just...I want a relationship where we can talk like best friends, have fun like kids, argue like husband and wife, and protect each other like siblings," He complained, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm offended," Blaine Anderson objected as he walked into the room, sitting down besides Kurt and giving him a little kiss on the cheek.

"Well, we can't all be as awesome as Puckleberry," Puck shrugged as he slid into the seat besides Rachel, plopping an arm around her and pulling her closer to him. "And not everybody can be as lucky as Rachel to have a boyfriend as awesome as I am," He bragged.

"I don't know, Noah," Rachel sighed, leaning against her boyfriend with a smile. "I have to admit that Klaine is pretty bad ass. Maybe not as bad-ass as Puckleberry, but they've got to be a close second. And since they were here longer, we might as well just make them number one, shouldn't we?" Rachel teased, reaching up and giving Puck a kiss on the cheek before sticking her tongue out at Kurt and Blaine. "I'm totally kidding-nobody could possibly be as cute-couple-worthy as Puckleberry. We're a couple of hot Jews and it's only natural," She beamed at them in an extremely mocking way.

"I hate you. You are a bitch," Kurt declared, crossing his arms over his chest and scowling at her.

"A complete and utter bitch." Blaine agreed.

"A hurtful bitch."

"That made me cry!"

"Hey-don't talk about my-"

"PUCKERMAN!" Finn Hudson snapped as he stormed into the room, face red with rage as he glared at his supposed best friend.

"Oh good lord," Kurt muttered under his breath. "Finn, do _not _do this right now,"

"No, you know what. Let him do this. Because we need to talk," PUck said, standing up. "We're going to settle this shit once and for all," Puck declared.

"You're a-"

"No. We're not getting into whatever type of fight you want to get into in front of Rachel. I'm not hurting her like that. Come with me. Kurt, Blaine-keep my girl right there and don't let her leave," Puck said, grabbing FInn's arm and dragging him from the choir room.

"I don't know whether I should follow or listen," Rachel whispered.

"Definitely listen," Kurt said.

"I don't want Puckerman kicking my ass," Blaine agreed.

* * *

"Noah! What happened to you?" Rachel cried out, hurrying towards Puck.

In all honesty, he looked fine. There wasn't a single bruise on his face and there was a severe lack of cuts on his face. He wasn't even limping. But he was smiling which showed that something must be wrong. Something must be horribly wrong.

"Finn and I worked everything out. It's all good and we didn't even stoop to any of that violence crap you'r always telling me not to stoop to, alright? We talked it out and while he's not exactly crazy about me and you being together, he's realized that you're mine now and he can't have you back. We're all good, okay? He's not going to cause any troubles for us, okay?" He asked, smiling down at her with a slight sparkle to his eyes.

"We can be together? Without any bull shit from Finn? Really?" Rachel asked, eyes wide as she beamed excitedly. "Noah, are you serious? Finn doesn't care anymore? He's okay with us dating and he's not going to try to break us up or cause any bull shit?" She asked, reaching up to hug him, pulling his face closer to her own for a kiss which he immediately deepened. After all, Finn wasn't being a dick due to their relationship anymore and there were only three days left before Christmas break. What trouble could they get into for all of the PDA they were doing?

"Yeah, baby, we can be together," He said, picking her up and twirling her around, setting her back on the ground before planting another kiss on her lips.

"I love you," She whispered, burying her face in his shoulder as he held her close to him.

"I know," He told her, his hands sliding from her waist to her hips and then her ass, giving it a tight little squeeze. "And I love you too," He growled into her ear.

"I have a present for you tonight," She told him. He raised an eyebrow as he studied her. "Come over tonight-my dads are going to be out of town for the next two days for business." She winked, giving him another kiss and smiling as he eagerly responded.

* * *

**END**


End file.
